KIBWORTHTo the present day traveller hastening along the A6 tothe south of Leicester, Kibworth appears to be just onevillage some nine miles from the City. In fact, it is twodistinct villages - Kibworth Harcourt lying mainly tothe east of the main road and Kibworth Beauchamp tothe west.

KIBWORTH BEAUCHAMPThe name Kibworth is a derivation of Chiburde, whichappears in the Domesday Book and means the farmsteador settlement of Ciber, or perhaps Cybba. Over the yearsthis became Shyburd, then Keeburth and eventuallyKibworth.

The name Beauchamp is derived from the deBeauchamp family who held the Manor here and alsooffice of Chief Panteler (banner carrier, dresser, butler)to the King in the 13th century.

In the 17th century the Manor passed into the hands ofthe Halford family. Subsequently the village did notstay in single ownership and this made it possible forentrepreneurs to develop areas of land. This allowedsmall industries to become established, givingKibworth Beauchamp a very different character fromits sister village. A leading industry was frameworkknitting which developed from a cottage industry tosmall workshops and finally by the beginning of the20th century to several factories, the largest of whichemployed over 400 people.

The trail starts from the public car park in SchoolRoad in the centre of the village (see map at back ofleaflet).

1 Turn right out of the car park and you will find theMethodist Chapel is located on the right partially hiddenby a cottage. It was built in 1846 on the site of an earlierbuilding. To the right of the main building of the chapel isthe 1874 extension which was formerly the minister’sresidence. A further extension was added in 2002.

30 The Coach and Horses, as its name suggests, is an 18thcentury coaching inn situated on the old turnpike road.Once a wooden pump and horse trough with a mountingstone stood in front; unfortunately no sign of them remain,although the horse trough is now part of the Victorian streetsetting at the Newarke Houses museum in Leicester.

31 Continue left along the A6 main road. 56-62 LeicesterRoad, Navvies Row, or Navigation Row, were built tohouse those working on the construction of the MidlandRailway line between Market Harborough and Leicester.Here the A6, generally, forms the boundary between thetwo Kibworth villages.

Further along the A6, passed a large Gothic style house,formerly The Gables, are two jitties, or passageways.

Take the first of these to:

32 Hillcrest Avenue, built after World War II primarily tohouse returning servicemen and their families. Part of theland between Hillcrest Avenue and the A6 was used as aprisoner of war camp during WWII.

Continue directly across Hillcrest Avenue and alonganother footpath, passing the school and recreation field,with its medieval ridge and furrow system still evident, tothe railway bridge.

33 To the left of the bridge, looking along the railwaystracks, was the site of the former sidings from which cattleand sheep were sent to markets in Harborough andelsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of baby chicks werealso despatched, across the world, from the Evans’hatchery on the A6.

34 Passing over the railway bridge you will see on the rightsome of the remaining buildings of the Old GrammarSchool - later the High School and more recentlyconverted into flats.

This leaflet has been prepared by

Kibworth History Societywww.kibworth.org

Its foundation is believed to have been as early as 1359,thereby making it one of the earliest schools in the country.The present school house and master’s house date from1725 and were extended in the 19th century. Local legendsuggests that an underground tunnel once linked theGrammar School and the Parish Church. A few yardsfurther on and you return to the Grammar School Hall carpark. The old school hall is now a wonderful facility forthe whole of the ancient parish of Kibworth.

You have returned to your starting point and wehope that you have enjoyed your walk around ourvillage.

2011

KIBWORTHBEAUCHAMP

South Leicestershire

Village Heritage Trail

2 Turn right along the High Street and you come toBeauchamp Hall, known as St. Wilfrid’s Hall since 1924.It was built in 1885 as a Baptist Chapel at a cost of £450.The foundation stones were laid by the Underwood familywho lived at 33 High Street (see18 below).

3 Continue along High Street to Fleckney Road and youwill come to the Scout & Guide Headquarters on theopposite side of the road. This building was previouslyBarratt’s auction and salesroom, doubling as a cinema aswell as showing lantern slides. Customers at the cinema orslide show would sit on whatever furniture Mr Barratt hadin his saleroom; sometimes a comfortable sofa or a harddining chair.

Pause for a moment and imagine the large hosiery factoryof Johnson & Barnes with 400 employees that was oncesituated further along Fleckney Road.

4 Retrace your steps to the village centre along the righthand side of the road and you will see a mud wall, all thatsurvives from an old mud cottage, with thatched roof,demolished in 1947.

5 36 High Street, now divided into three shops, was oncethe Royal Oak pub. Local reports state that from here oneday in the 1870s a tightrope was strung across to athatched cottage on the corner of School Road. Villagerswatched agog as the famous Frenchman, Blondin,balanced a stove and cooked a pancake aloft - rather atame feat after pushing a wheelbarrow over Niagara Falls!

The church tower, which was built between 1832 and1836, houses a clock which is signed by John Hanbury ofWest Haddon (Northants) and dated 1834.

The original church tower and spire had a height of 160feet and the six-faced spire was said to have been visiblefor seventy miles. On 23rd July 1825 the whole structurecollapsed across the road and into the field beyond.

28 30 Church Road, Rectory Cottage, opposite thechurch, was previously a post office.

29 Passing Hillcrest Avenue you will see the GreyHouse on the left. This 18th century house has a fine set ofcast iron railings, and one wonders how they avoided thedemand for metal during WWII. Opposite is a row ofcottages from the early 19th century.

7 Turning into Smeeton Road, the new development onthe right, Smeeton Court, is on the site of the other majorhosiery employer in the village, Poynors, and later thedesign studios of J E Slater.

8 You now pass numbers 1-11 Smeeton Road. Thesecottages housed the families of framework knitters.Larger windows on the first floor replaced the originalsmall windows, in the 1930s, together with additionalwindows over the front doors, the installation of gaslighting, and the provision of outside toilets, all made bythe owner after the cottages had been condemned andthreatened with demolition.

6 Before turning right into Smeeton Road, you will see anornamental clock, built in 1913, on the stables belongingto the 16th century Manor House.

24 Opposite the pharmacist and down Isabel Lane is allthat remains of the old Midland Railway station with itsdistinctive decorated windows. Opened on 8th May1857, it was victim of the ‘Beeching cuts’ and closed on1st January 1968. Around this site stood the pre-1788rectory.

Who Slept Here?Legend has it that either Cromwell or Charles I visited therectory on the night prior to the decisive Battle of Naseby in1645. If truth be told, probably neither did!

25 Across the road from the old station and over therailway bridge is Station Hollow. Known in the past as‘under Church Hill’, ‘Little End’, or ‘Ducks’ Paddle’,this is one of the oldest parts of the village.

26 Continuing up the hill towards the A6 main road andon the left is a row of large Victorian houses, The Villas,built in the late 19th century by John Mason, a localbuilder.

27 The Parish Church of St Wilfrid serves both KibworthBeauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt. There are twoporches: north for Harcourt and south for Beauchamp.The building dates from the second half of the 14thcentury. The ancient font was removed from the churchby John Yaxley the puritan minister in the 1650s andwas used as a horse trough. It was reinstated in 1864and the plain 17th century font was given to a church inZanzibar.

Cross the road, passing the Health Centre and KibworthCourt, and take the footpath on the left betweenBeauchamp Gardens and the High School, with viewsacross to the woods and hills of Gumley.

9 At the end of the footpath turn left along Weir Road andcontinue for a short distance until you come to TudorCottage on the right, the location of the discovery of the‘Kibworth Beauchamp Ox’, the largest pre-historic oxever found in Leicestershire.

Unearthed during extension building work in the 1950s,the ox measured 96cm between the horn tips. It is nowpreserved in a Leicester museum.

10 24 to 34 Weir Road were known as Factory Housesas they were converted from a framework knitter’s shopthat failed in the mid 19th century.

11 Continue along Weir Road and you will find a gap in thehouse numbers between 37 and 17. The missing numbersbelonged to nine cottages up the private footpath betweennumbers 37 and 17, in what was known as Barrack Yard,with only one cottage there now remaining. At one timethe old cottages housed war pensioners (hence the name‘Barrack’).

18 Cross the road by the pedestrian crossing to 33 HighStreet, set back from the road, an early 18th century housere-fronted in the early 19th century. In 1833 this was one offour private schools in the village. By the 1880s it was thehome of WW Underwood and local Baptists held servicesin the outbuildings. In the second half of the 20th century ithoused the Electricity Board.

Turn back down the High Street towards the roundabout,keeping to the left hand side, and to Paget Street (formerlyPudding Bag Lane) and named after Major Paget, a 19thcentury village benefactor.

19 Behind the library you will see the old infants’ school.Built in 1907, this was the starting point of most villagechildren’s education. It closed in 1959 when a new schoolwas opened in Hillcrest Avenue.

20 Just beyond Paget Street on Station Street is the oldschool (now a doctors’ surgery) with its distinctive belltower. The first Parochial School was built on this site in1812, the existing buildings being constructed in 1842.The house to the left was the headmaster’s.

21 Across the road is the entry to Stuart House. This housecontains a carved beam of 1627 and a stone chimney ofthe same date. Beyond the house can be seen Stuart Court,a home for retired Anglican clergy.

22 Next on Station Street can be seen the village hall,opened in 1866, where early highlights were thefortnightly entertainment known as ‘penny readings' - ashowcase for local talent. It later functioned as the villagecinema.

23 Across the road, beyond the Railway Inn, is thepharmacist's shop, formerly the business of AlonzoFreeland, village chemist, dentist, mineral watermanufacturer, photographer, publisher, and poet.

Dropped from the skyAcross the road from Cross Bank House, to the right of HSBCbank, is a shop, formerly F.G. Hare’s drapery shop. DuringWorld War II, on 10th January 1942, a barrage ballooncollapsed on to it and enshrouded it for two hours before itcould be removed.

17 Continue up the High Street to 30, the Manor House. Itis the oldest house in the village, dating from the 16thcentury. Built of ironstone, it is in an ‘H’ shape, as acompliment to King Henry.

Turn back along New Road towards the village centre,passing Weir Road.

14 To the left is 4 High Street, a well-proportioned late18th century red brick and Welsh slate house, with animpressive central Gothic window, fanlight and bell pull.

15 The village centre, once known as the Bank or CrossBank, was the site of a market cross. In 1221, Henry IIIgranted Walter de Beauchamp a licence for a Mondaymarket. During the early 19th century an annual statutefair was held for the hiring of servants and labourers.

16 14 High Street, Cross Bank House, is another of severalfine Georgian houses in this area. This particular housewas the home and surgery of a succession of villagedoctors.

12 Further along the road is a restored thatched cottage, ata right angle to the road. This was once a part of a group ofbuildings and in one of these in the 19th century lived ablacksmith John Collins, whose skills ranged fromfurniture making to clock repairing. In addition he was anavid reader of Spurgeon’s sermons (19th century).

The village stocks stood on the corner as you turn right intoNew Road.

13 Pass along New Road towards the railway bridge andon the left hand side lies the site of the Kibworth Gas, Lightand Coke Works. The gas works was financed by theparish and opened in 1862. There is evidence of three gasholders having been on this site, but all that remains now isthe old gas house and buildings converted intoaccommodation.